Franklin Graham quits the GOP over Planned Parenthood funding

Franklin Graham, son of evangelist Billy Graham, addresses the crowd at the Festival of Hope, an evangelistic rally held at the national stadium in Port-au-Prince, on January 9, 2011. Photo courtesy of REUTERS/Allison Shelley*Editors: This photo may only be used with RNS-FRANKLIN-GRAHAM, originally transmitted on May 20, 2015 or with RNS-CRUZ-COLUMN, originally transmitted on June 9, 2015, or with RNS-GRAHAM-REPUBLICAN, originally transmitted on Dec. 22, 2015.

(RNS) Evangelist Franklin Graham has announced he is abandoning the Republican Party in disgust over the move by the GOP-led Congress last week to pass a budget that Graham said was “wasteful” and provided funding for Planned Parenthood, which he compared to the Nazis.

Graham has previously said he has no faith in any political party, but his apparent renunciation of his Republican affiliation is an indication of anger on the right and the strong interest many disaffected evangelicals have shown in populist outsiders such as Donald Trump.

The federal government provides $528 million in funding for Planned Parenthood — about 40 percent of the organization’s annual budget — primarily through payments to Medicaid for health services for low-income Americans. Federal law prohibits funding of most abortions, and Planned Parenthood separates federal taxpayer dollars from those used to provide abortions.

Social conservatives have long fought to strip taxpayer funding from Planned Parenthood, and after the release of a series of undercover videos by anti-abortion activists earlier this year, those calls ramped up to a fever pitch.

Activists said the undercover videos show Planned Parenthood officials negotiating the sale of fetal organs — which they called “baby parts” — for profit to medical researchers; making money off such organs or tissue could be illegal and unethical. Planned Parenthood denied that it was profiting from the sale and said it was quitting the practice.

The Planned Parenthood logo is pictured outside a clinic in Boston. The organization’s leader defended it before Congress on Sept. 29, 2015. Photo courtesy of Reuters *Editors: This photo may only be republished with RNS-GRAHAM-REPUBLICAN, originally transmitted on Dec. 22, 2015.

In the wake of that white-hot controversy, there was wide expectation that with Republicans in control of both the House and Senate, Congress would eliminate funding for 2016. Some conservatives in the GOP threatened to shut down the government if that wasn’t done.

But the shooting massacre at a Colorado Springs Planned Parenthood clinic late last month by a lone gunman, Robert Lewis Dear, who proclaimed himself “a warrior for the babies,” seemed to change the calculus, and congressional leaders last week reached a deal that averted a shutdown and funds the government through September of next year.

The deal also funds Planned Parenthood at previous levels — a development that has enraged many on the religious right, including Graham, son of the renowned evangelist Billy Graham.

Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney leaves the home of Reverend Billy Graham (not pictured) with Graham’s son Franklin, right, in Montreat, North Carolina on October 11, 2012. Photo courtesy of REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton*Editors: This photo may only be republished with RNS-GRAHAM-REPUBLICAN, originally transmitted on Dec. 22, 2015.

“This is an example of why I have resigned from the Republican Party and declared myself Independent. I have no hope in the Republican Party, the Democratic Party, or Tea Party to do what is best for America,” the younger Graham declared on Facebook on Monday (Dec. 21).

He also seemed unconcerned about questions that harsh rhetoric could play a role in provoking attacks as he compared Planned Parenthood to the Nazis:

“Seeing and hearing Planned Parenthood talk nonchalantly about selling baby parts from aborted fetuses with utter disregard for human life is reminiscent of Joseph Mengele and the Nazi concentration camps!” Graham wrote. “That should’ve been all that was needed to turn off the faucet for their funding.”

Billy Graham, who is 97, infirm and largely incommunicado, over the years came to rue his involvement with politics, saying it drew the focus from his evangelism.

But his son not been hesitant to offer his opinion of politicians and in particular hot-button electoral issues of interest to social conservatives. In fact, in denouncing the Republican Party this week, Graham made a pitch for the prayer rallies he will hold in every state next year, starting in Iowa in January shortly before the crucial first presidential primary.

The rallies, as Graham says, aim to “challenge Christians to live out their faith at home, in public and at the ballot box.”

Graham has said that if more evangelical voters turn out it could prove the difference in national and local elections, a point also made by Republican candidates.

About the author

David Gibson

David Gibson is a national reporter for RNS and an award-winning religion journalist, author and filmmaker. He has written several books on Catholic topics. His latest book is on biblical artifacts: "Finding Jesus: Faith. Fact. Forgery," which was also the basis of a popular CNN series.

Dr. Graham has crossed over into the dark side. Republicans will not win anyway if they call those who believe in legal abortions as killers. That is very close to enabling potential fanatics from becoming terrorists. May God save us from ourselves. We certainly cannot.

The good news is that Franklin Graham is showing some independence by separating from the Republican Party. But what does he mean by being an independent? For most Americans, being an independent means being a bipolar voter. Very few independents I know actually consider candidates from 3rd parties. And this is a shame because there are both conservative and nonconservatlve 3rd parties.

“Wasteful?” From a a man who takes his nearly $1M a year salary from 2 charitable organizations? Who is he to speak on “wasteful?” If this political influence-peddler is leaving the Republican Party and is critical of the tea party, then the only reason would be because none of the leading candidates have asked for him to join them in front of a camera.

Well, he’s right about planned parenthood. Planned parenthood and the nazi party both got their beginnings and their ideas from Darwin. There is much more than a small connection. I do think he ought to stay out of politics, even in the event he is correct, because I believe it is damaging to his ministries.

I quit political parties 20 years ago, but for different reasons than Franklin Graham. As a Christian, I simply cannot align myself with temporal, ideological, political agendas. It is time for Christians–be they politically liberal, conservative, or libertarian (like me)–to do the same.

Graham had no problem with the Republican Party when it invaded two middle astern countries and destabilized the entire Middle East, causing the deaths of how many people and the displacement of hundreds of thousands more.

But this? this is just too much for a man whose salary alone could feed tens of thousands of people. Didn’t Jesus say something about desert quadrupeds and needles and rich people?

I agree with Ben in Oakland about this Robert… If we as Christians would vote and be more involved in politics we certainly wouldn’t be in the mess we are today. By the way, I too consider myself libertarian however I realize (as Ron Paul and Donald Trump do) that 3rd Parties cannot win. I’ll take Ted Cruz for the win… that would certainly shake things up. I pray he does.

Euthanizing the most vulnerable human beings in society is killing them at the very least, right? Are we not allowed to speak the truth that you favor the right to kill human beings without their consent even if you personally oppose it? It’s no different than the German Christians who made excuses for Hitler while lone voice like Bonhoeffer’s were ignored.

With all due respect Ben, the organizations that Franklin Graham run do more to help people and spread the Gospel than you can even begin to imagine. And you have taken that verse all out of context. Ben, you ought to pray for wisdom and check your own heart… and let God be the judge of Franklin’s heart and salary. He gives to whom He chooses and that is none of our concern. Can you even imagine the temptation Franklin must deal with given his 800+k compensation. As one of the great leaders of the Church here on earth, we should pray for him. Not criticize him.

“Ban Muslims from the US.” Are you a serious journalist? Nobody has suggested that we ‘ban Muslims from the US.” Why not report what was really suggested which was a temporary halt to new Muslim immigration until an actual vetting process is established?

Franklin Graham..Oh yes he’s the one with his father praying with Romney. Of course that was after his father took Mormons off the cult list. There is not a drop of Christian blood in his body. A sick man. However the Republicans are looking better and better.Kust a few more televangelicals tyo leave and it could turn around.

There is no way in my opinion that Graham will ever be independent- he is much too far to the right to ever come back to center. AND , he is another evangelical who only concentrates on two sins apparently- abortion and homosexuality. He believes apparently that those are the two greatest sins and we don’t have to worry about those mundane sins of cheating, lying, covetousness, stealing, cursing, worshipping other Gods, you know all those other sins that no evangelicals or Christians ever commit. Really sad

Your premise is faulty. An embryo or fetus is not a person except symbolically. Never in the history of millions of years of jurisprudence has a fetus ever been considered as such and it never will be except by the confused. The entire maneuver to criminalize abortion consists wholly of efforts to exercise power and control over women and nothing else.

wow – ronnie please tell us more about your faith and political party and about how much your party works to help the poor, the sick, the veterans and the working man. Please provide us with some facts to back up their affection for those main street folks

No, that’s not correct about PP and Naziism and Darwin. Darwin merely postulated on the development and decline of species. It took plutocracy, which Franklin Graham wholly supports, to devalue the individual who did not pop out of a privileged person’s birthing apparatus as the despicable Brother Graham did. get your news from somewhere besides Faux because they lie.

If Cruz wins, it’d be proof the majority of Americans are evil. That’s not likely. Trump despite his bluster has the makings of being an OK President, immigration issue aside. I suspect he’d reverse course on that if he got in. Cruz however is a danger to the safety of the majority of the citizens. It is not likely he will be elected to anything after this and will probably lose his senate seat next go-round to somebody who’s not such a hot mess.

That’s a good example of Faux reality. The very suggestion is unpatriotic and an insult to what America stands for. Do you know how hard it is for a regular white Christian who wants to marry a Canadian and get her here? It takes something like a year or more. Now, imagine how much security is already in place for those from more ominous countries like Pakistan and Sudan. And yes, there has been suggestions Muslims be banned accompanied by actual violence against them.

The problem is, Jesus’ command to love one another inevitably pulls us into politics, whether we like it or not. And I don’t like it. My church seems to be the democratic party at prayer. The evangelicals seem to be the republicans at prayer. We need to be just Christians, but we can’t avoid the public square, unless the Lord calls us to a life of prayer, like the monks or hermits. I believe some are so called.

@George- I beg to differ on your statement that “Never in the history of millions of years of jurisprudence has a fetus ever been considered as such and it never will be except by the confused.”
Deliberately to induce abortion or miscarriage by artificial means, by the use of drugs, or by medical operation, the sole purpose of which is to avoid the birth of an unwanted child, is an act of high crime in the sight of God. Life as a precious gift from God is sacred. Hence God’s law to Moses protected the life of an unborn baby against more than criminal abortion, for if in a fracas between men a pregnant woman suffered an accident fatal to her or the child, “then you must give soul for soul.” (Ex 21:22-25) Dr. J. Glenn comments: “The viable embryo in the uterus IS a human individual, and therefore destroying it, is a violation of the sixth commandment.”—The Bible and Modern Medicine, 1963, p. 176.

So Franklin has finally figured out that the Republicans are not prolife. They had a six year window during the GWBush administration when they had the votes in Congress if they were really serious about banning abortions.
Not only are the Republicans not prolife on abortion, their position on the death penalty and war has never been prolife.

That’s all conjecture no matter what Glen Beck says. The Exodus quote is not from a widely used translation and is an inaccurate reading – in actuality it proves the rhetoric “abortion is murder” was not the jurisprudence of the ancient Hebrews.

George Just as the Nazi party abstracted the mentally ill and the Jews as not being human and as the South abstracted slaves as not being human either, you are trying to do the same thing by saying abortion does not involve a human being but a fetus or an embryo. Your argument is no more valid than that given by Hitler or Southern plantation owners.

That is true. It is a recent development, enacted to give prosecutors another tool. It does not however criminalize abortion which is justifiably legal and will remain so. Many opposed these state laws precisely because they would result in erroneous inferences like yours.

If you think Trump “has the makings of being an Ok president,” you haven’t been paying any attention to his divers and sundry rants delivered to anyone who dares to call him on them.

As for Cruz, I don’t see any significant difference between him and Trump on most issues. Cruz, though, at least manages to stop short of displaying the jaw-dropping lunacy that regularly comes from Trump’s lips.

George, I agree. The crux of this whole issue is the question as to when life begins and there will never be agreement on the answer.

From a religious perspective, my view of abortion is based on Genesis 2:7. “Then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.” It is my understanding – that Jews have historically accepted the view that life begins as the child takes its first breath on its own, albeit in recent times some have reasoned that life begins earlier in the womb.

Abortions have been done throughout history. I am 80 y.o. and back in the 1950s and ’60s I knew too many women who were physically harmed by back alley and self abortion. We should have learned from the 1920s that prohibition never works.

ROE mandated nothing but freedom of conscience for a nation where freedom of conscience holds sway. Without agreement on biblical interpretations, we have to rely on civil laws…

. Without agreement on biblical interpretations, we have to rely on civil laws to accommodate every individual.

More than 40 religious denominations and organizations are members of the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice. More than half (53%) of US Catholics identify themselves as pro-choice, and more than six in ten (61%) believe abortion should be legal. More than 8 in 10 US Jews identify themselves as pro-choice. More than 2400 religious leaders have endorsed the Religious Declaration on Sexual Morality, Justice, and Healing, which calls in part for a faith-based commitment to sexual and reproductive rights, including access to voluntary contraception, abortion, and HIV/STD prevention and treatment. http://www.religiousinstitute.org

Went to church last weekend. Apparently Jesus was not a middle age, middle class, conservative republican white guy like myself according to the preacher. I think I too have lost a certain amount of faith in politics, hear now. I’m waiting to see what people like Mr Graham and the preacher have to offer faith in for here and now. If not liking people we disagree with until they change isn’t going to work how does this country get better?

Mark, point taken. So as for the woman impregnated against her will, otherwise known as rape, God “might” have had a purpose. In the unwanted, unloved child born into poverty and a life of misery, God “might” have had a purpose. Neither you nor I know the mind of God and therein lies freedom of conscience.

Exactly. People are free to believe abortion is wrong – for them. For anyone else, it’s none of their business. the efforts to criminalize abortion are only designed to oppress women and exercise power and control over them.

Sure I have. But a President is not only elected in order to give speeches. In some ways, Trump’s giving the rubes hope distracts them from doing any real harm. Trump is a jackass, but Cruz is an evil *&^%%$#@,

It’s great that Graham has finally seen the light, no matter what the issues were that led up to it! ALL religionists–right and left–should get out of politics. In this country we have the freedom to believe what we choose and be members of whichever religious community suits us. Getting in bed with a particular political party and tying God’s name to partisan political agendas, diminishes the Omnipotent Grace and Wisdom of One who is beyond human partisanship. It’s even embedded in the language: what’s partisan is partial–not Whole. Each of the 2 main American political parties contains elements of truth amidst distortion and error, but at that it’s necessarily a half-truth: judgment must be tempered with mercy, and “social justice” (Marxism’s updated brand) needs to be balanced with indivual responsibility, enterprise and risk-taking. It’s what I call the Divine Paradox.

good for you Ronnie——I AM WITH FRANKLIN ALSO——I WANT TO SEE TRUMP GET ON BOARD george nixon shuler WHAT ROCK DO YOU NEED TO GO UNDER——I have to add Planned Parenthood is a good organization except for the aboration part—–Planned Parenthood give out birthcontrol pills and takes care of women’s health care issues

God might also has a purpose for those gay people whose souls are liked by religious bigotry. or for those Jews, Muslims, residents of middle eastern countries we invade, or anyone else. But it never seems to bother people who claim to be both Christian and to speak for God.

But any half-asleep history student could have told St. bush that invading Afghanistan was a really, really bad idea. Ask Alexander the Great, the British, and the Russians. And of course, our invasion of Iraq was based on lies.

Personally, what I would have done is offer a $10 billion reward for information leading to the eventual destruction of bin laden and his top lieutenants. That would have been a good start, and much cheaper.

i don’t think this matter could or should have anything to with hurting Franklin’s ministry It can only help it some of u people are out of your minds LIFE IS AT CONCEPTION THESE WOMEN WHO GET PREGNANT ARE TOO LAZY TO TAKE BIRTHCONTROL PILLS OR HAVE OTHER MEANS OF BIRTHCONTROL AND WHAT ABOUT THE MEN TAKING RESPONSIBILITY(I GUESS MEN ARE JUST DUMB) ALOT OF MEN DON’T TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE BABIES THEY MAKE SHAME SHAME SHAME

Calvin & George can believe any lie they want but in my view conservatives are 100% more generous to the poor and disenfranchised, have and support more family members in the military than any liberal does (that’s why the military overwhelmingly rejects liberalism) and believes in the dignity of the working man and reject policies which enslave the poor to a life of dependency.
Graham is be applauded though, for taking a stand against a racist organization, PP, which supports ‘more from the fit, less from the unfit’ and the Republican party which sold it’s soul to the Devil for 30 pieces of silver.

i cannot believe some of the comments on this issue—-especially this ignorant guy shuler????? I HOPE TRUMP JUMPS ON BOARD WITH FRANKLIN NO MATTER WHAT PAPER TRUMP SIGNED I JUST BECAME AN INDEPENDENT!!!!!!!!!!!! GO FRANKLIN AND TRUMP

Jack, God alone has the right to choose who will live and who will die. I do not support abortion. I am just pointing out the hypocrisy of those who pretend to be opposed to abortion to divert attention from their real political agenda. That thee would try to twist my comment to something I was not saying shows thee has deep doubts about thy own anti-life positions. I pray for thee, and also for Franklin, that you will meet Jesus on that proverbial one-way street.
Best wishes, edward

I vote for the person’s positions but so far only twice have not voted Republican precisely because the Democrat party is the ‘party of death’, embracing unlimited child killing, abortion, and the redefinition of natural marriage supporting confused same-sex unions now. My husband was a Democrat but left when they embraced policies that hurt the poor, dependency and the military which he is one of. So therefore, your premise that the Republicans don’t care about the military, poor or working man is nonsense.
We are in the forefront of helping ‘street folks’ working to help the homeless and poor. And by the way, conservatives are 100% more generous than liberals all around. Hope that clears it up. Merry Christmas!

CM, the passage you cite stands for exactly the opposite of what you suggest. The law states that if the pregnant woman miscarries, but there is no fatality to the woman, the guilty party is to pay restitution to her husband as determined by the court. Only if there is a fatality to the woman does the “life for life” punishment come into play. The whole thing is the basis for Judaism’s foundational point on the subject: Abortion is NOT murder.

Junebug, that is what it started out to achieve. Stamping out back alley abortions, and I don’t discount the potential trauma that these girls would face carrying the product of a rape etc, and I do not condemn them for wanting to get rid of it. But the fact is trauma is trauma and killing is killing, we still have to answer to God one day for whatever reason he allowed this to happen. stats say that the women involved get an even worse sentence for the rest of their lives remembering the abortion, on top of the rape, not to mention causing others involved to commit a grave sin in Gods eyes , On top of this terrible situation. Planned parenthood have turned it all into a huge “abortions R us “industry Even selling the “Tissue” for research funded by taxpayers like you and I Unfortunately promiscuity is raging out of control, and feeding this industry like a factory, and thus the cycle keeps on going. I think we have to break this link, and this is what Franklin Graham is trying…

This issue has almost destroyed democracy in the US> A judge voted against the investigor of Planned Parenthood. Hillary Clinton supported Planned Parenthood . If the Congress defunded Planned Parenthood for wrong doing, while a judge defended it;s wrongdoing, the DEM front runner would be under investigation with no candidate for the 2016 presidential race. Add to that the possible impeachment of Obama and we are left with a one party system,

There will not be a valid investigation of HRC. HRC remains the one to beat, and Cruz and Rubio can’t cut the mustard. If PP funding is dropped by Congress, then reinstated by a federal judge, it will stand. The right-wing will whine, but they’re dying out.

Ideally, I’d like to resurrect some past president like Washington or Lincoln, JFK or Reagan, but having no such powers, I am forced to choose among the candidates both parties are offering. On the Democratic side, I wish Evan Bayh were still in politics but he’s not. I wish Joe Lieberman were still a Democrat and decided to run, but he’s not and he didn’t. On the GOP side, almost anybody, Cruz included, is preferrable to Trump, with the exception of Rand Paul, who is equally bad due to his atrocious views on foreign policy.

Ben, I think the answer is somewhere in between Bush’s regrettable nation-building and your treating 9/11 as a mere criminal matter requiring only the apprehension of the suspects.

The 9/11 Report, despite its many shortcomings, got it right by saying that we were at war whether we liked it or not. The problem was, again, that Bush used that fact as an occasion for nation-building. That was a mistake in Afghanistan and an even bigger one regarding Iraq.

Abortion being legal virtually any time, any place, and for any reason, all the way to birth in many instances, is “justifiable” only if you believe that a fetus is magically held back from being a life until the moment of birth. That is irrational, medieval thinking.

If Hillary were half the politician her husband was, she’d be the logical favorite to be the next president. But politically speaking, she’s as dumb as a rock, and has the emotional intelligence of a hyena. So that makes 2016 anything but a cakewalk for her.

I am pretty sure that in Gods word he states that we should adhere to mans laws, but only if it does not interfere with his. You can rely on man or governments to set your moral standards if you want, you can choose to believe that the abortion issue is an attack on women, and all the other political direction’s you choose, but in the end Gods word is not muddy water, it is clear and we all will have to answer for the path we choose. Choose carefully your eternal life depends on it.

I don’t subscribe to conspiracy theories about Cheney and Halliburton, but I strongly agree that the Bush people fought the Iraq war terribly. They got rid of Saddam, but then proceeded to spend the next four years twiddling their thumbs while the Sunni Triangle festered. They turned our troops into cops on the beat, rather than soldiers seeking to defeat an enemy.

They should have moved immediately to secure the Triangle. Their failure to do so for four years was unforgivable.

Jack, the Soviet Union fell; maybe not when we wanted, but in God’s time. We (humans) have a knack for doing things, not in God’s way, but in the Devil’s way, and thus delaying the coming of God’s kingdom.
That is not to say there is never an occasion for human actions, but to be effective, they must be rightly ordered.
I hope Franklin understands that all the time he and his father have been playing the political card has been wasted. Big government is not the answer to abortion.

Well, Edward, if you agree with me in principle that acknowledging God’s sovereignty over all doesn’t absolve human beings of the responsibility to take concrete action against the world’s wrongs, including tyranny and its brutal effects on people and nations, our remaining difference is one of degree and not kind.

Regarding the fall of the Soviet Union, it was a miracle of God that it collapsed without violent overthrow. But that doesn’t mean no human effort was involved. America’s rearmament was a factor, as was a host of human actions short of a shooting war. The key was our recognition that at root, we were engaged in a battle of ideas, between freedom and tyranny.

A number of factors contributed to the fall of the Soviet Union. The arms race with the US was a factor only in that resources that could have mitigated conditions domestically were diverted. Much greater were the effects of their losses in Afghanistan and the conflict in Chechnya. Unless there is a history out there that has never been reported on, it is a mistake to say that US actions contributed in a major way toward the fall of the Soviets.
Acknowledging God’s sovereignty means not using evil means such as war. War brings more suffering and more tyranny. War is not the answer.

They are assaults on the pregnant woman. Someone who consented to bring a child to term. Just like rape is not the equivalent of consensual relations. Her body, her choice. Calling it murder of a fetus is not factually correct but it satisfies fetus worshipers in legislatures. Your argument is actually circular in nature.

Christians like yourself always seem to have a problem with the notion of consent and personal decisions. You feel that you are so moral and right that you have a duty to make decisions for others. The anti-abortion position is pure narcissism. The idea that all pregnant women must defer to your authority on their personal decisions. Unless you can take possession of a fetus from someone else, the pregnant woman’s choice is the only one that matters here.

Good point, Scott. Our country is not going to get better until we learn that we have to love people we disagree with. Our disapproval of those we disagree with only strengthens them in their resolve to disagree with us. Too many preachers and politicians are determined to rule or ruin.

suite? If you remember Billy Graham, you instantly see that Franklin’s influence will be around ONLY as long as Daddy is still alive. After that….what the “Graham” name will mean is nothing more than another pale source of radical republican gibberish. So sad for Billy—

Franklin Graham even managed to act like a complete dillhole when running his charity. Samaritan’s Purse is notorious for blatant proselytizing undermining it efforts, forcing local charities in other countries to pay into their system and financial impropriety.

“we should pray for him. Not criticize him.”

Which is why Christians like yourself are so easily duped. Why even the poorest among them contribute to make hucksters wealthy when they invoke religious appeals. No desire to exercise critical thinking or free will.

The choices a woman makes with her body are her responsibility, not yours. You may not like her choices, but they are not yours. Nobody has to abide by your criticism or feelings on the matter. You don’t like abortions, don’t have one. You want to keep others from having one, tough luck. Its not your decision to make.

No, that is strawman thinking. Pretty much all you have other than hysterics.

Until it is viable outside the womb, nobody has to give a damn whether it is considered a life or not. It is in the woman’s body and dependent on her will to stay alive, and there is nothing you can do to alter that condition.

Ldmorse’s argument is based on ignoring the concept of consent. Pretty much like the entire anti-abortion argument. One pretends consent to give birth is unimportant or non-existent, the choices of the mother can be ignored or attacked.

But we do not automatically consider pregnant women slaves to self-righteous fetus worshipers. Therefore, consent matters and brings to the fore how the anti-abortion crowd merely wants to attack women and their autonomy.